Two spaceships collide in hyperspace, fusing the vessels together.
Investigating the accident, the Doctor, Romana and K-9 meet Tryst, an
eccentric scientist who is carrying samples of various planets within a
machine called the Continuous Event Transmuter. The CET malfunctions,
however, unleashing monstrous Mandrels onto both ships. Meanwhile, the
time travellers discover that someone on board has been smuggling the
illicit, addictive drug vraxoin -- and it becomes clear that the
disastrous events are not unrelated.

Production

Shortly after completing their Season Sixteen Doctor Who story
The Armageddon Factor, Bob Baker and Dave
Martin decided it was time to dissolve their decade-long writing
partnership. Although was the end of Martin's association with Doctor
Who, Baker continued to develop proposals for the programme. One of
these was apparently called “Nightmare Of Evil”, and was
submitted around New Year 1979. It dealt with the issue of drugs, which
script editor Douglas Adams felt would make for a very original and
relevant Doctor Who story. Baker had also designed his storyline
to be very cost-effective, and this met the approval of producer Graham
Williams. With the first two serials of Season Seventeen expected to be
taxing on the budget, Williams was keen to make the fourth and fifth
serials of the year as frugally as possible, in order to save money for
the season finale.

Baker was commissioned to expand “Nightmare Of Evil” into
full scripts on February 7th. The title was changed at this point to
Nightmare Of Eden, as Adams felt that the original name was
redundant. In addition to the narcotics element, Baker also found
inspiration in the disaster movies which had become popular during the
Seventies, such as The Poseidon Adventure, Airport and
The Towering Inferno. Nightmare Of Eden was earmarked as
Season Seventeen's fourth story in both the production and broadcast
orders, and was assigned the production code Serial 5K.

Alan Bromly's old-fashioned and authoritarian approach did
not sit well with Tom Baker

The director booked for Nightmare Of Eden was Alan Bromly, was
had previously helmed The Time Warrior in
1973. Bromly was now largely retired but still received occasional work
from the BBC. Unfortunately, during rehearsals the old-school director
quickly butted heads with Tom Baker, who was a commanding presence on
Doctor Who and had become renowned for trying to impose his will
on the production. Bromly had a very old-fashioned and authoritarian
approach to directing, which did not sit well with the programme's
star.

Also a source of concern during rehearsals was the drug element of the
serial. Although Adams was a proponent of the angle, Williams was
worried that it was unsuitable for a family-oriented show like Doctor
Who, and his apprehension was shared by the series regulars. Lalla
Ward, in particular, was keen to omit anything which might appear to
glamourise the narcotics trade. As a result, various uses of drug
language were amended to sound less appealing or exciting. Most notably,
the drug at the centre of the story was originally called
“xylophilin” or “XYP”, and nicknamed
“zip”. This was changed to “vraxoin” (or
“vrax” for short), although K-9's dialogue continued to
refer to it by its original nomenclature.

Nightmare Of Eden was taped in two three-day blocks, both of
which took place in BBC Television Centre Studio 6. Bromly had
originally planned to record the serial more-or-less in story order,
which was the traditional way of making Doctor Who until the
mid-Seventies. However, he was ultimately convinced to proceed on a
set-by-set basis, as had now become the norm. The recording of
Nightmare Of Eden marked the return of David Brierly to Doctor
Who as the voice of K-9: after making The
Creature From The Pit at the start of the production schedule,
Brierly had not been needed for either City Of
Death or Destiny Of The Daleks.

The initial studio session for Nightmare Of Eden spanned August
12th to 14th. The first day dealt with scenes at the refreshment point
and in the luggage section, as well as on the Empress bridge (for
part one) and in the lounge (for parts one and two). Further bridge and
lounge sequences were completed the next day, along with those in the
Eden jungle and the capsule. August 14th was planned to be an
effects-heavy day, involving scenes in the lounge which featured the CET
projections, as well as the model shots of the Empress and the
Hecate. Unfortunately, Bromly was ill-prepared for how
extensively Doctor Who now incorporated special effects, and
indeed for the generally faster pace of modern storytelling. Not all of
the scheduled recording was completed, and the mood on set became
strained.

When Alan Bromly walked off the set on August 28th, Graham
Williams had to step in to direct the remaining material

The second studio block took place from August 26th to 28th. The first
day was concerned with scenes in the passenger pallet and in the
elevator area. The 27th was dedicated to various corridor sequences, in
addition to those in the sick bay anteroom, the Empress power
unit, and the dark room on the Hecate. Bromly made several
changes to his recording schedule and was uncompromising in dictating
how he wanted the actors to perform. This drew the ire of Tom Baker. He
began vocally insulting his director, leading to an argument on the
studio floor for which Williams had to be summoned to intervene.

The situation deteriorated completely on the final day of production.
With Baker in open revolt, Bromly completed work on some further
sequences in the corridors before informing Williams during the supper
break that he was walking away from Nightmare Of Eden. Williams
himself was forced to step in to direct the remaining material, which
included scenes in the corridors and the elevator area. With blame for
the debacle placed squarely on Bromly's shoulders, it was agreed that
Williams would complete the post-production work on Nightmare Of
Eden, and that Bromly would never again be invited back to Doctor
Who. Bromly retired completely from television soon thereafter; he
passed away in September 1995.

Nightmare Of Eden was also Bob Baker's final involvement with
Doctor Who. He continued writing for programmes including
Bergerac and also became script editor on shows like
Shoestring and Into The Labyrinth. In the Nineties, Baker
garnered acclaim for his work with stop-motion animator Nick Park on the
Wallace & Gromit series, which included the Academy Award-winning
2005 feature film Wallace & Gromit in The Curse Of The
Were-Rabbit. Since the late Nineties, Baker has also been
attempting to spin his cocreation, K-9, into his own television series.
The project took on new life with the success of Doctor Who's
2005 revival, and is now planned for broadcast in 2008.

Meanwhile, the unpleasantness he had had to contend with on Nightmare
Of Eden helped Williams make up his mind to leave Doctor Who
at the end of Season Seventeen. Williams had endured three punishing
years on the programme, and he had finally had enough.